She added: "The American people would be better served if we talked about really important things facing the country".

Woodward's book is based on "deep background" interviews, which he defines in his book as interviews where "all the information could be used but I would not say who provided it".

"It doesn't work. He's got it in his head, when people challenge him, he'll say, 'Oh, I've had those ideas for 30 years".

In his early morning Twitter rampage, the president also said quotes in the book are "made up". Defense Secretary Jim Mattis denies saying that Trump acted like a fifth- or sixth-grader while discussing North Korea, and chief of staff John Kelly denied calling Trump "an idiot".

The New York Times recently carried an extraordinary article by an anonymous senior official in the White House who claims that he and other staff members are "unsung heroes" who are "working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations".

Woodward said his book does not rely on anonymous sources, telling Savannah Guthrie, "The incidents are not anonymous".

Since the anonymous op-ed was published on September 5, numerous Trump officials have come out denying they wrote it. "These are political statements to protect their jobs, totally understandable".

Woodward and his book - full title is Fear: Trump in the White House - clearly is getting under the president's skin.

Trump and several high-profile White House staffers have hit back hard against Woodward's book, quotes attributed to administration officials, and the reliance on anonymous sourcing. Dems can't stand losing.

Trump attacked the book again on Monday, writing in a tweet that it was a "joke".

"What you'd like is the President to not worry so much about the short term of staffing, but the long term of vision-casting for America, pull us together as a people, help us deliberate about where we should go and then build a team of great, big-cause, low-ego people around you", he said.

The book also quotes Mattis, after a contentious National Security Council meeting on January 19, as saying Trump acted like and had the understanding of "a fifth or sixth-grader".

The Vice President also argued that the author of the Times article was guilty of more than just disloyalty.

A different journalist asked if the White House would give a list of everything in the book that they thought were inaccurate, to which Sanders replied, "I think that would be a complete and utter waste of our time, so no".